Vampire Hunt (Kiera Hudson Series #3) (16 page)

“Anyway, one day I’m standing on the touchline, watching my Vampyrus mates playing football with their human buddies, and this geeky-looking guy strolls up alongside me. He’s wearing these cheap plastic glasses and his face is all covered in spots,” Isidor said.

“Sparky?” I cut in.

“Yeah, your mate Sparky,” Isidor grimaced. “He says to me, ‘It’s a shame, really’

‘What is?’ I ask him.

‘That you don’t fit in with the humans as well as your Vampyrus buddies.’

“I was shocked, Kiera, by what he said, and I just stared at him wide-eyed and opened-mouthed. I mean, I couldn’t figure out how he knew about us.

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I said to him.

‘You’re more like a human than you realise,’ he smiled.

‘Get out of here,’ I snapped at him.

‘Ask your mother – or should I say aunty?’ and this Sparky dude grinned at me.

‘Aunty?’ I said, but somewhere deep inside of me something clicked into place.

“So, Leaving Sparky smiling to himself on the touchline, I raced home back to The Hollows and confronted who I believed to be my mother. At first she denied it, telling me that she was my mother and that my father had died when I was just a baby. But I said I didn’t believe her and that if she didn’t tell me, I’d leave The Hollows and her forever, to go in search of the truth. But still she wouldn’t tell me. So, taking my crossbow and a few personal belongings, I left The Hollows.

“But my mother…aunt…followed me, begging me to stay with her – telling me that sometimes the truth wasn’t always the best. Ignoring her, I went back above ground and she followed. Within moments of leaving The Hollows, she was captured by Sparky and I realised I’d walked straight into a trap. Then, with great delight, Sparky told me everything. With my heart feeling as if it had been ripped from my chest, I asked my aunt if what he had said was true, and without looking at me, she slowly nodded her head.

“Even though I felt betrayed by her – by all of them – I still loved her as if she were my mother. So when Sparky told me that he would kill her if I didn’t bring my sister Kayla to him, I didn’t know what else to do. Even though I’d never met my sister, I didn’t want to betray her, either – but I had to do something. So agreeing to go in search of Kayla, I set out for Hallowed Manor, but all the while I had no intention of handing over Kayla and every intention of saving the woman who I’d believed to be my mother. I hoped that together, Kayla and I would be able to work something out, a plan of some kind.

“On reaching the manor, I scoped it out for a few days, coming out at night and watching the manor from the moors. One night, I was nearly caught by Potter as he masqueraded around as the grounds man, Marshal. But there was someone else watching the manor – this guy with scars all over his face,” Isidor said.

“Phillips is his name,” I told him.

“Anyway,” Isidor continued, “I could tell that he was up to something. But one night, as I watched the manor from the safety of the moors, I heard this thunderclap and looking up I saw a Vampyrus soaring out of the sky and it was this Phillips dude. Curious as to what a Vampyrus would be doing at Hallowed Manor, I followed him through the undergrowth as he made his way around the outskirts of the giant wall. It was then I realised that my sister, Kayla was in great danger,” Isidor explained.

“Why? What did you see?” I asked him.

“Vampires!” Isidor said, his eyes wide. “Hundreds of them, and he was leading them into the grounds of the manor by a tunnel that went under the moat. From a distance, I followed them and watched as Phillips led them into that summerhouse. But what I couldn’t figure out was how so many of those vampires could fit into that place. I mean that summerhouse was only small. So, hiding in the trees, I waited for Phillips to go, and then I scoped out the summerhouse. It was then I discovered the trapdoor in the floor. Realising that Phillips was building an army of vampires, I fled the grounds of the manor and went back to the wall and the tunnel beneath it,” Isidor explained.

“You ran, didn’t you?” I asked him, thinking of those footprints in the earth I’d seen leading from the summerhouse, through the wooded area and back to the tunnel.

“Yeah, how do you know?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” I half-smiled.

“Not really knowing anything about vampires – only the stuff I’d read in books and seen in movies, the following day, I crossed the moors to this little Catholic church tucked away in some remote village. Putting as much loose change that I had on me into the church charity box, I took as many rosary beads that I could find in the gift shop. I then spent the rest of the day cutting down branches and sharpening them into stakes. I rested beneath some rocks for the rest of the day and planned to go and save my sister that night,” Isidor said. Then, looking at me he added, “The rest you know. I arrived too late and discovered you and Potter in that summerhouse.”

“You know we will find her,” I said. “I promise.”

“I hope so,” he said back. “But I think Potter is probably right about one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“My mother…I mean aunt…is probably already dead.”

“You don’t know that for sure,” I tried to comfort him.

“We’ll see,” he said.

“Do you resent her?” I asked him.

“Who, my aunt?”

“Yes.”

“No, why should I resent her?” he asked thoughtfully. “It was my father who abandoned me.”

We sat in silence for a moment, then, turning my back on him and unbuttoning my shirt, I said, “I think my wings are starting to come through.” I rolled my shirt just far enough off my shoulders so he could see the bony lumps I had discovered earlier.

Gently, he pressed them with the tips of his fingers and said, “Does that hurt?”

“No,” I told him, shaking my head. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re right,” he whispered and I pulled my shirt over them again.

“What’s it like?” I asked him, my heart beginning to thump as I feared the prospect of changing.

“What, having wings, you mean?”

“Not just that,” I said, “the whole claws and fangs thing?” I asked.

“I’ve never known any different,” he said. “But when the fangs come out and the claws – you know – when you need them, it doesn’t hurt. I guess it’s a bit like flexing your muscles, so don’t worry.”

“But I
do
worry,” I told him. “I’m scared. I don’t want to be…what I’m trying to say is, I just want to go back to being Kiera…not some freaky-monster.”

Then looking at me, Isidor said, “But Kiera, you’ve always been a
freaky-monster
…you just haven’t realised it!”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The others woke and there was an uncomfortable silence in the overhang. No one spoke to each other or even looked at each other for that matter; most seemed lost to their own thoughts. Murphy sucked on the end of his pipe as he readied himself to lead us to this Jack Seth and the Lycanthrope. Luke stayed close to my side and I got the feeling that he just wanted to look after me - as if he understood the danger that we were being led into. Isidor stood by the craggy entrance to the overhang and watched the moon rise up over the mountains that stretched away into the distance like giants stooping over. Potter kicked dust over the remaining embers of the fire, and with one quick look at us all, Murphy said, “Ready?”

Silently, we followed him into the night. We hadn’t gone far when the sound of beating wings rippled above. Pulling me close, Luke whispered in my ear, “The Vampyrus can guess that we didn’t get far yesterday. They’ll know we are probably still close, so keep low and watch your back.”

Looking back at him, I nodded my head to confirm that I understood. Then, glancing into the distance, I could see a flock of Vampyrus circling around and around in the sky like vultures waiting for the starving to die.

Keeping low, Murphy led us in single file across several boggy fields, then down into a deep forest set between two mountains that stretched up on either side of us like blackened cliff-faces. Like the countryside surrounding Hallowed Manor, this part of Cumbria was just as barren and desolate, a crisscrossing patchwork of featureless fields and moors, only broken by the jagged rocks that jutted through the earth like ancient tombstones. The Vampyrus continued to zigzag across the night sky, but they were behind us now, and as we entered the forest, I lost sight of them altogether.

Touching Luke’s arm, I gave a faint smile and said, “At least they won’t be able to see us beneath all these trees.”

Before Luke had a chance to say anything back, Potter had brushed past us and as he went, he said, “Don’t forget about the vampires.”

Glaring at his back as he strode away deeper into the forest, Luke shrugged his shoulders at me and said, “Take no notice, Kiera. He’s just pissed off with Murphy, that’s all. He’ll get over it.”

“And what about you?” I asked as we followed behind the others.

“What about me?”

“Are you still pissed off at Murphy?”

“I guess,” he sighed, and stroked the scars on his face, which had gradually started to fade. “I just hope the sarge knows what he’s doing.”

We continued to make our way through the forest, the sweet smell of fallen pine needles almost intoxicating. There were so many of them on the ground that they covered the earth and the mud like a lavish green carpet. I don’t know how long we had walked, but time almost seemed to stop inside the forest. It was dark and felt claustrophobic amongst the trees that grew so close to one another. Although it was cold, the atmosphere inside the forest felt warm and clammy. Reaching a small hill, I looked back at the way we had come, and the darkness between the gaps of the trees seemed to move like a black mist, as if almost taking on shapes -
forms
.

Screwing-up my eyes, I peered into the darkness, but on closer inspection there didn’t seem to be anything lurking there at all.

“This way,” Murphy said behind me, and I turned to see him heading down the other side of the hill and disappearing between the trees. Potter stared after his retreating sergeant, and his face looked drawn and grave and it scared me - upset me - as I’d never seen him like that before. I didn’t ever think I would admit this to myself, but I was actually missing his annoying ways. To see him propped somewhere, with a cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth while making wisecracks, was comforting - that was the Potter that I knew and…that was the Potter that I liked. But this new Potter I wasn’t so sure about. He had always been so cock sure - arrogant - nothing seemed to scare him. But now I wasn’t so sure.

“Are you okay?” Luke asked me, yanking me away from my worries for Potter.

“Sure,” I said, setting off after the others.

We worked our way down the hill, weaving amongst the trees, until Murphy brought us out into an unexpected clearing. In the dark, the view he had revealed to us was breathtaking. We stood on the sandy shore of a beautiful lake. It lay before us like a sheet of glass, reflecting back the moon that shone high above us, blood-red and perfectly round. Pine trees and spruces stretched up into the sky on all sides of the lake, completely surrounding it, as if keeping this place secret from the rest of the world. The gentle sound of the water lapping against the shore was hypnotizing and the whole place had a dreamy, fairytale enchantment to it. The lake looked as if it was a mile wide and disappeared for as far as the eye could see in both directions.

“Wow,” I breathed, my eyes absorbing the astonishing beauty of how the light from the crimson moon danced on the surface of the lake like droplets of blood, covering the highest tips of the trees.

Swiveling his baseball cap on his head, Isidor whistled through his teeth in awe. “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he sighed. “And I thought The Hollows had some beautiful lakes.”

Luke and Potter glanced at each other and I could see their bodies stiffen. The sight of this amazing place had done nothing to relax their nerves, but had only heightened them.

“Does anybody else know about this place?” I asked Murphy.

“Others have stumbled across it from time to time,” he said, “but they don’t live long enough to tell anyone about it.”

“It’s beautiful,” I whispered.

“You haven’t seen nothin’ yet,” Murphy said, leading us away down the moonlit shore.

We followed him a short distance, and I could just see something which looked as if it were sticking out into the lake like a broken finger. But as we grew closer, I could see that it was a jetty and moored against it was a small boat. Murphy led us towards it and I could see that the jetty was ancient and tired-looking. It had been made of wood and most of it had long since sunk into the lake. Some of the planks that formed the walkway were missing and much of the wooden handrail had gone.

“Mind your step,” Murphy warned us as he hurried towards the boat.

Placing one foot in front of the other, I followed him as carefully and as light-footed as I could. Ahead, Murphy sprang onto the boat and began to unwind the rope attached to its mooring. I stepped onto the deck and the others followed. It was a small fishing boat, with a cabin at the far end. In the corner, I could see a mass of entangled fishing nets, but they looked tatty and frayed and I could see that they hadn’t been used to catch anything in a very long time.

Casting off the rope, Murphy pushed us away from the jetty with his foot. He then ran across the small deck to the cabin. Within moments the boat was farting out oily clouds of black smoke as its engine rumbled and spluttered into life. I stood and watched the ripples it made wash back to shore, as the boat chugged its way across the lake.

Luke was standing in the doorway to the cabin as he helped Murphy guide the boat. Isidor stood on his own at the front, crossbow in hand, and seeming to sniff at the air.

Potter stood alone, leaning against the side of the boat. Going to him, I said, “Whose boat is this?” I didn’t really care whose boat it was, I just wanted to talk to him.

“Dunno,” he said, lighting another cigarette.

“Why do you smoke so much?” I asked him.